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The murdered civil-rights leader's dream was incandescently alive in 15-year-old Hadiya Pendleton as she performed in the national's capital with her high school band on what was both Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Inauguration Day.
She was there not only as a majorette but also as a major success in all areas of her life, as a daughter, as a sister, as a friend, as an athlete, and as an honor student at Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. College Prep in Chicago.
And to make her presence all the more perfect on this doubly historic day, she faced the world with an unwavering goodness that translated into an uncommon pleasantness. Her presence was at once comforting and inspiring. Her family and friends knew her to be an exceedingly rare treasure.
"There's not many," says her godfather, Chicago Police Officer Damon Stewart. "It doesn't happen often."
Pendleton was at school on Tuesday, and classes let out early because of exams. A bitter cold snap had suddenly given way to unseasonably warm weather, so she went with the other members of the girls' volleyball team to a nearby park to enjoy the reprieve. They were nine blocks from the home of the president at whose inaugural Pendleton had performed.
Around 2:30 p.m., a rainstorm swept in. Pendleton and her teammates sought shelter under a canopy. They were joined by a least one boy, who was apparently the intended target when another boy suddenly appeared with a gun and began firing.
A stray round struck Pendleton in the back. The doctors at Comer Children's Hospital were still fighting to save her when her father, Nathaniel Pendleton, and the godfather, Stewart, arrived.
"They tell us they're working on her," Stewart recalls. "Her heart had stopped."
The father usually picks up his 10-year-old son, Nathaniel Pendleton Jr., at school. The godfather arranged for a police radio car to get the youngster while they waited and hoped. The doctors then said there was nothing more they could do.
Later at the Pendleton home, the mother, Cleopatra Crowley-Pendleton, spoke of a daughter who loved reading and writing and Latin. Hadiya had read the Twilight books in two days. She sometimes spoke of becoming a journalist when she grew up.
Her brother sat looking at cellphone pictures of his sister.
"It's very painful to see your big sister get slaughtered," young Nathaniel was quoted saying by the Chicago Tribune.
The godfather had become a cop as a testament to his 12-year-old brother, who was shot to death back in 1985, nearly three decades and thousands of gun deaths ago. Stewart now vowed to do whatever he could to help the Pendletons through grief and pain such as he knew too well.
"It destroyed my family," he said on Wednesday morning. "I don't want it to destroy another family."
As the day progressed, the White House joined Mayor Rahm Emanuel in expressing their sorrow.
"What is best in our city," Emanuel said of Hadiya.
The father appeared at a press conference with Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy and announced an $11,000 reward for the killer.
"They took the light of my life," Pendleton said. "This guy, whoever he was, the gunman, man, you took the light of my life. Just look at yourself and just know that you took a bright person, an innocent person, a nonviolent person."
He said of his daughter: "This kid didn't like violence at all, didn't even like to fight, avoided a fight, moved away from anything that was not positive. She was a majorette, just came back from the inauguration."
He was addressing the killer directly when he said, "She was destined for great things, and you stripped that from her."
The girl who had performed at the inauguration just a week before had become one of 42 people murdered in Chicago since the start of the year, six of them under the age of 18. She would not be going with the band in March to London and Dublin as well as Paris, where she also hoped to study as an exchange student.
She would have been a perfect ambassador, just as she was the perfect majorette on that doubly historic day in Washington. She truly was what is best not only in Chicago but in our country.
She leaves us with the example of her uncommon goodness, which now becomes a challenge.


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Pairs plots (section 5.1.17) are a useful way of displaying the pairwise relations between variables in a dataset. But the default display is unsatisfactory when the variables aren't all continuous. In this entry, we discuss ways to improve these displays that have been proposed by John Emerson, Walton Green, Barret Schloerke, Dianne Cook, Heike Hofmann, and Hadley Wickham in a manuscript under review entitled The Generalized Pairs Plot. http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
Implementations of the methods in the paper are available in the gpairs and GGally packages; here we use the latter, which is based on the grammar of graphics and the ggplot2 package. This is an R-only entry: we are unaware of efforts to replicate this approach in SAS.
New users may find it easier to break process down into steps, rather than to do everything at once, as the R language allows. One way to do that is to make a smaller version of a dataset, with just the analysis variables included. here we use the HELP data set and choose two categorical variables (gender and housing status) and two continuous ones (the number of drinks per day and a measure of depressive symptoms). Once this new subset is created, the call to ggpairs() is straightforward.
ds = read.csv("http://www.math.smith.edu/r/data/help.csv")
ds$sex = as.factor(ifelse(ds$female==1, "female", "male"))
ds$housing = as.factor(ifelse(ds$homeless==1, "homeless", "housed"))
smallds = subset(ds, select=c("housing", "sex", "i1", "cesd"))
ggpairs(smallds, diag=list(continuous="density", discrete="bar"), axisLabels="show")
For users more comfortable with R, the ggpairs function allows you to select variables to include, via its columns option. The following line produces a plot identical to the above, without the subset().
ggpairs(ds, columns=c("housing", "sex", "i1", "cesd"),
diag=list(continuous="density", discrete="bar"), axisLabels="show")
Various options are available for the diagonal elements of the plot matrix, and the off-diagonals can be controlled with upper and lower options. The examples(ggpairs) command is very helpful for visualizing some of the possibilities.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Scarface - The World is Yours Cheat Codes: ------------ Submitted by: Morg Pause the game, select CHEATS from the menu, then enter any of the following cheat codes. Code Result ---------------- KILTONY - Suicide FPATCH - Fill Balls (Trigger Blind Rage) OLDFAST - Spawn Ariel MK III (Race Car) DOZER - Spawn Bulldozer BUMMER - Spawn Bodog Stampede DUMPER - Spawn Odin VH88 666999 - Spawn Bacinari BLACK - Black Suit BLUESH - Blue Suit w/ Shades GREY - Grey Suit GREYSH - Grey Suit w/ Shades SANDY - Sandy Shirt SANDYSH - Sandy Shirt w/ Shades WHITE - White Suit WHITESH - White Suit w/ Shades MEDIK - Full Health AMMO - Max Ammo TUNEME - Original Sound Track MARTHA - Change Time of Day FLYSTRT - Decrease Cop Heat by 1000 NOBALLS - Decrease Gang Heat by 1000 DONUT - Increase Cop Heat by 1000 GOBALLS - Increase Gang Heat by 1000 SHAZAAM - Toggle Lightning RAINY - Toggle Rain TBURGLR - Repair Tony's Car TANSHRT - Sandy shirt TIGSHRT - Tiger shirt HAWAII - Hawaiian shirt TANSH - Sandy Shirt with shades TIGERSH - Tiger Shirt with shades HAWAIIG - Hawaiian shirt with shades S13 - Babylon Club Redux level DW_FRON - Cabana Cigar/Oakely Drive In level S12 - Deliver level S07A - Freedom Town Redux level F_M_SHA - Marina Storage level S09 - Nacho Contreras level S10 - Nacho's Tanker level A51 - The Dock Boss level S11 - Un-Load level RICH - $5 million. Get stronger weapons earlier: ----------------------------- Some characters like the assassin and enforcer have stronger weapons. For example, play as the enforcer. Call for one of Tony's cars. once it arrives, go to the weapons trunk. Place the grenade launcher in the trunk, tehn switch back to Tony. When you go to the weapons trunk, the grenade launcher will still be there. You can do the same thing with the assassin to get the PSG-1. Hint: Easy money: ----------------- Go down the road from your mansion. Make a left turn at the end to the parking lot where the trailer is parked in the corner of the yellowish brick wall. Enable the FPATCH code here. It fills your ball meter. After enabling the code, press E to exchange your balls for money. Repeat this as many times as desired. The higher your rep, the more money you will get for your balls. Montana investments: -------------------- You can find these under the "Exotics" menu, and "Investments" option. The purpose of the investments is to provide upgrades to the game or to your player. You will need at least $1.5 million ($40 million for Montana Legal and $20 million for Montana Sports) to purchase most of these investments. The investments will help you level up faster. Montana Records : Unlocks new music tracks and create a new playlist. Montana Holdings : Fronts will cost you 10% less to purchase. Montana Fitness : All your henchmen gain 50% health. Montana Productions : Unlocks all of Tony's clothing options in the cheat menu. Montana Legal : Visibility Events reduced by half (cops look the other way). Montana Sports : Maximum bets go up for all your gambling. Montana Financial : Launder all of your cash with 0% interest. Montana Defense : Carry an extra weapon and maximum ammunition. Killing gang members: --------------------- Enable the BUMMER code. Then, go after the gangs with it. The gun will have unlimited ammunition and enough armor to take them all out. If you run low on your vehicle's health, enable the TBURGLR code. However, you must move your Hummer once in awhile or they will pull you out. This also is very useful when taking over the storehouses because of all the armor it has. Taking a car without cop heat: ------------------------------ The only way to get a car off the road is to get in front of it and push T. Keep pressing it. If the person gets out, you get balls. Shark attack: ------------- Save the game before attempting this. Go into the ocean from anywhere and start swimming, preferably away from land. After a while a giant shark will appear and eat Tony. Evading sharks: --------------- If you are stranded out at sea, call a boat quickly. This keeps the shark from coming after you. If you are on a mission, you might be unable to call a boat. If this happens get to an island quickly (especially if you have lots of money). This scenario will most likely happen in the islands. If you are unable to call a boat, keep moving and do not stop. Swim to the nearest island regardless how far away from the mainland it is. Observe your surroundings. Determine which island is closer, and swim there. If you survive the swim, do the same with the next. Continue with this tactic until you are safe. However, there is a 75% chance this will fail. Do not swim for the mainland unless you are sure you can make it. Interest rates: --------------- The higher your cop heat is, the higher your rates will be at the bank. Easy money: ----------- If you have some keys in your warehouse then you can distribute them. Enable the "Decrease Gang Heat" code then grab the first two boxes. Lower you gang heat with the "Decrease Gang Heat" code, then grab another one. Once again, lower you heat. Keep repeating this. There will be no chases or attacks on your turf. Note: This was done with all gangs killed in both areas. Execution attack: ----------------- You can finish off an enemy on the spot by knocking him to the ground. Once he is on the ground and is getting up, go over him and look down while holding a weapon. If you press [Fire], Tony will execute a Mortal Kombat-like fatality while saying things like, "See you in Hell mother*". Increase health: ---------------- After you collect enough balls (possibly about 400,000) and you have found the girl in the black dress and she is at your mansion, go to your business page. If it mentions something about a gift from her, go to your mansion and talk to her. You will get a permanent health increase. This can be done with the other girls as well, so start collecting them. Nacho Contreras" mission: Defeating Nacho's snipers: ---------------------------------------------------- During the mission when you have to kill Nacho, there will be a point where two snipers will guard one area. These snipers are deadly and will usually kill you. There are four ways to defeat them. The first is to conceal yourself and shoot the fuel barrels. They will generate a cloud of smoke that you can use as cover. Move quickly when doing this because the smoke does not last too long. After you shoot a barrel, advance and dive for cover. If you die doing this, this tactic can no longer be used the Xbox version, due to unexplained reasons. The barrels will disappear and the tanker may become invisible. The other tactic is to advance quick and slow. Dive for cover, then advance very slowly up there. If you go behind boxes with nothing stacked on top of them, you will need to duck. Once you get three-quarters of the way there and if you have plenty of life, storm up there and finish them. This can also be done another way; shoot as you advance up there. This causes the snipers to hesitate slightly. Use this opportunity to get as close as you can. If all else fails, you can go back and build up rage mode. You are invincible during this. Use this as a way to kill the snipers. Reducing visibility: -------------------- Upgrade the Micro SMG three times. The third upgrade results in a silencer which cuts visibility by half or reduces it to none during a fight (unless you are out in the open). Lowering gang heat: ------------------- Note: This trick can also be used for easy money. Go to the island and shoot as many gangsters as you can find. Stay as long as desired and collect as much coke as possible. If you stay long enough, you will have full gang heat when you return. After collecting about 2,000 to 3,000 grams, return to Miami with a plane. Once you return, call your car as soon as possible. If a front is not attacked when you arrive, the gangs will come after you. Survive their attack or defend your front. Once done with any other annoyances, begin to sell as much coke as possible. Each 100 gram can lower your heat gang heat by 300 per successful transaction. By the time you are done, your heat will be at zero and you will have lots of extra money, which you should launder as soon as possible. It is also a good idea to do this before distributing kilos of coke because low gang heat during a distribution mission will result in very little attackers and almost no chance of a front being attacked during it. Finding Gomez" mission: Easier completion: ------------------------------------------ When doing the first mission against Gasper Gomez, take out the helicopter when you are in his lounge. Taking out one will keep both of them for pursuing you as you are attempting to get the cash to your bank in the armored car. Keeping visibility low during gang fight: ----------------------------------------- Upgrade the Micro SMG three times. The third upgrade results in a silencer which cuts visibility by half or reduces it to none during a fight (unless you are out in the open). Note: The .48 pistol on its first upgrade also has a silencer which also can assist during this. Heat Cheats: ------------ FLYSTRT - Decrease Cop Heat DONUT - Increase Cop Heat NOBALLS - Decrease Gang Heat GOBALLS - Increase Gang Heat Weather Cheats: --------------- MARTHA - Change Time of Day SHAZAAM - Toggle Lightning RAINY - Toggle Rain Cash for Balls: --------------- When needing extra money fast, go to the Cash for Balls Booth located east of the Havanna Storehouse. You will see a yellow blocking pole on the south side of the road, this is the alley that will take you directly to the booth. Once there, you go to the start menu and enter the "max balls" cheat, when you type in your cheat, hit the triangle button to sell your balls. This will pay around $65,000 for the max balls. Different cutscene: -------------------´ In the last level where you have to kill Sheffield, the cutscene showing you finishing him off will depend on what weapon you use. E.g. If you just punch him, the cutscene will show you beating him to death whereas if use the desert eagle it will show Tony shooting him in the head, ditto with the AK. Shark Bait: ----------- This usually happens along South Beach and North Beach. If you swim out in the water far enough and stop. This little clip will start. It shows Tony treading water until a shark jumps out of the water and clamps on to Tony. It's not useful, it serves as a comic relief more then anything. Just make sure that you don't have any dirty money or drugs in your possession because you will lose them. Easy money: ----------- On the island with the docks and winding roads, go by where the docks are located, at the top right corner of the island on the map. Follow the road to the building (the orange spot with the bank symbol on it). There should be a building with a sign that reads "Bodog" It is a bar. There should be a cage as soon as you walk in. You can bet on cock fights and people fighting. You can bet as high as $25,000. There is also a casino in that building where you can also make money. Easy money: ----------- On Sandman Island, look for any Sandman leads that put you in a boat. Shoot the targets, then destroy their boats to have two crates appear; one with money and one with ammunition. Collect both crates for a nice amount of ammunition and money. This is an easy way to get money and ammunition, since you do not have any time limits on the boat missions. "The End": Alternate cinematic: ------------------------------- In the last level where you have to kill Sheffield, the cinematic showing you finishing him off will change depending on what weapon you used. For example, if you just punch him, the cinematic will show you beating him to death; if use the Desert Eagle it will show Tony shooting him in the head, etc. Get stronger weapons earlier: ----------------------------- Some characters like the assassin and enforcer have stronger weapons. For example, play as the enforcer and call for one of Tony's cars. Once it arrives, go to the weapons trunk. Place the grenade launcher in the trunk, then switch back to Tony. When you go to the weapons trunk, the grenade launcher will still be there. You can do the same thing with the assassin to get the PSG-1. Early Carbine Assault Rifle: ---------------------------- Normally, you would have to wait until the "Fifth Reputation Upgrade" to snag the Carbine Assault Rifle, but you can get it earlier. First, enter a building, such as a bank. Start shooting, and continue the disruption until finally the police arrive. Find shelter and take out the cops as they come, without getting killed. The SWAT team will eventually arrive. Kill members of the team and pick up a Carbine Assault Rifle they drop. Now, let police officers kill you. When you spawn again, check your weapons locker and find that it now contains the desired gun.


text:
".....the books and the reading event (whether at school, or reading with mum and dad) offer opportunities to discover, experiment, explore, learn new things, make them laugh, consider the curious or unusual, help them to play, see how things work, share trivia tricks and facts with other boys, explore the unknown, and generally do interesting things."
For many boys (like girls) the narrative form is the best way into literacy, but some boys are reluctant to read narratives. Our aim as parents or teachers is to develop boys who can read every imaginable genre when it is appropriate to their needs. We want them to read in a sustained way written text presented in traditional print forms (e.g. books, magazines, letters), electronic forms, or in fact text found anywhere within the child's world. So we should seek to explore any textual form available to introduce them to reading and then gently push them to explore other forms of reading, as well as to read in more sustained ways and for all imaginable purposes. I've tried below to offer a range of ideas for boys aged from beginning readers to young teenager. All are meant to offer an alternative pathway for pushing forward reluctant readers. They are roughly in order of increasing difficulty and age appropriateness, but some examples are relevant across all ages.
Introduce them to magazines - boys will love to flick through the pages of magazines on topics that interest them. Something like National Geographic is ideal (or a children's version of this type of magazine like 'Kids Almanac'). If they are expendable (e.g. old National Geographics), let them cut out interesting pictures and get them to make a book by sticking them in and then labelling them. Later you can write words for them that they dictate or you can encourage them from a very early age to try to 'write' (see my previous post on 'When do children start writing' here) words that go with the pictures.
Explore websites together - from about 3 years most boys will love to explore computers with you. Choose some simple websites (I list a few on the sidebar of this blog site), National Geographic Kids is worth a look. The Australian Museum has a great site called 'Wild Kids' where lots of facts and pictures can be found about animals - great fun to explore (and it's reading!). Show them how you open the site. Then explore the pages of the site pointing to and reading words. Don't make this a reading lesson, the text is peripheral to the exploration, images etc. But you are 'warming them up' to print. There are some greats sites to explore on sharks, reptiles etc.
Explore factual books together - boys love to learn new things. Borrow factual books from the library about space, dinosaurs, cars, trains, reptiles, sea creatures, insects, how things work etc. Boys will flick pages and look at pictures for ages. Sit with them and selectively draw attention to words. Perhaps use the book as a springboard to other activities (e.g. craft, drawing) and encourage the use of writing to label or supplement drawings. A brilliant example of this type of book is 'The Way Things Work' by David Macaulay (the author's website is also worth a visit here). This book explains with words, diagrams and pictures how things work, for example, electricity, pulleys, microscopes, smoke detectors etc. This can be flicked through or read. It isn't a simple book but is ideal for an older boy who isn't keen on stories but may respond to a more difficult factual book that will encourage him to read for more sustained periods. And this is one of our aims, to give them reading 'stamina'. Another great example (again) is 'Nat Geo Almanac 2010'.
A sub-category of this approach is the use of 'key fact' books. Many boys will love books that offer a mix of drawings and pictures with facts about things that fascinate them. Some of these books use extended text but others use short 'sharp' statement with good accompanying graphics or images. Popular topic areas with boys include:
- Egyptology
- Jet planes
- Weather
- Animals of all kinds
- History
- Sport
- Science
- Engineering
1001 Unbelievable Facts, by Helen Otway (there is a whole series of '1001 Fact..' books, 'Backpack Books' published by DK)
100 Things You Should Know About Ancient Rome, by Fiona Mcdonald
Dinosaurs (Pocket Series), produced as part of a series of non-fiction books by DK Publishing
My Panda Book, by Stuart P. Levine. This is one of a series of books published in partnership with the Smithsonian.
A wonderful recent example of a fact book that my wife bought for me (and which I've shared with my grandson) is 'One Small Step'. This was produced to commemorate the first moon landing on July 20th 1969. The book is a replica of a scrapbook put together by a 12 year old boy whose grandad was working in the Houston Control Room on the day when man first made it to the moon. It's a collection of Moon-landing memorabilia (e.g. space menus, certificates, transcript of the first steps exchange etc), photographs and so on. It also has more recent space science information, including the future of space travel.
Joke books - There are numerous joke books that boys will use for hours with family and friends. For some reluctant readers joke books are the place that they will drift to in order to avoid sustained reading. The aim isn't to allow this to happen, but these books if managed well can be a way to get boys reading more difficult material. There are lots of books of this type, the follwoing are just a couple of examples.
Knock Knock Who's There: My First Knock Knock Book by Tad Hills is a great introduction to humour in books with answers under flaps.
The Everything Kids' Joke Book, by Michael Dahl offers Jokes for upper Primary children (aged 7-12 years) plus a second section on how to write jokes.
The Family Joke Book, by Brad Taylor
Books that encourage boys to make and do things - there are many examples of books of this type. They show boys how to make simple things, conduct science experiments and so on. Places like the National Geographic stores can be a good place to look for books of this type. A well-known recent example is The Dangerous Book for Boys. This book offers a range of ideas for making and doing things. For example, how to make the greatest paper plane in the world, building a tree house, all about dinosaurs, making a G0-cart, how to go fishing, juggling, all about Australian snakes, skimming stones and so on. This isn't a simple book (about grade 4-5 standard) but the content will help boys to 'stretch' themselves. It is also a great book for boys to read and 'do' with an adult.
Graphic novels and comics - While this category often uses narrative, there are many good examples that are non-fiction. It seems the Graphic Novel is making a comeback in this digital age. A graphic novel uses a combination of text and art. They can include biographies, narratives, memoirs and journals, classic story retellings etc. For example, there are now graphic-novel editions of the works of Shakespeare, and many classics such as The Red Badge of Courage, Beowulf, Greek myths, The Adventures of Robin Hood, even The Canterbury Tales. Some people lump comics and graphic novels together but they are slightly different forms. Whereas the graphic novel uses more extended text mixed with illustrations and images, the comic makes use of the speech balloon and is usually restricted to narrative forms. There is still a place for comic books (see my previous post on this here). What the graphic novel offers is a carefully crafted interplay of image and word with many other devices used to draw attention to print (e.g. different fonts, sizes etc).
It is not a new form, for example, well-known children's author Raymond Briggs has used the format to powerful effect with works like 'When the Wind Blows' (1986) that tells of the impact of an atomic blast on an elderly British couple who approach the impending disaster as if they were simply trying to survive the Blitz of WWII. He was also responsible for the very confronting picture book The Tin-Pot Foreign General and the Old Iron Woman which is a political satire about the Falklands war (this is at best a young adult book).
A final comment on literature
As I've stressed above, while it isn't essential for children to begin reading via books or fiction, there is a critical place for traditional forms like children's literature because of the importance of narrative to people. What I'm saying is that while boys might start reading in many different ways, they shouldn't be allowed to avoid the narrative form. As I commented in the third part of a series of posts on the 'Power of Literature' (here) I believe that while it is possible to learn to read without a rich tradition of books and literature, I would argue that it isn't possible without a foundation of narrative and story. Why? Expert in narrative Harold Rosen offers the perfect answer to my question:
Narratives in all their diversity and multiplicity make up the fabric of our lives; they are constitutive moments in the formation of our identities and our sense of community affiliation.We spend most of our lives telling each other stories. Yes, I know that there are countless language genres with their own structure, purpose, modalities and so on, but we build our relationships with one another, we share our humanity through the stories we tell about our own lives and those that we have heard from others. So our aim in using factual forms of reading isn't meant to be an alternative to reading literature. Eventually, we should aim to have our boys loving literature too.
Related posts
Key themes in children's books: Humour (here)
All my posts on boys and education (here)


text:
Mill Valley Silver Stars [Varsity - Game Day - Medium Virtual Finals] 2021 NDA High School National Championship
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text:
Retail gamification is an ecommerce trend that won't be going away anytime soon. Online retailers will need to continue creating interactive experiences for their customers to drive more sales growth on their stores. While it may seem like just a game, gamification apps have proven to increase leads and sales for many retailers. Whether it's a spinner app offering a discount with exit intent or an interactive quiz that leads customers to a personalized product, retail gamification helps engage customers and lead them to action.
Gamification Examples: Sand Cloud uses a spinner app with exit intent. When a customer moves their mouse towards closing the browser tab, the spinner appears on their store. Customers are required to enter their email (allowing Sand Cloud to remarket to them) to spin the wheel. When the customer spins the wheel, they'll receive a discount such as $5 off, 15% off, or 20% off. The spinner is usually fixed so that the customer always gets a discount off the product so that they're incentivized to make a purchase.
Tips for Gamification in Business:
Loyalty programs are a great way to create a gamified experience for your customers. They allow your customers to engage in actions in order to win points. Points can be used to achieve different prizes. You'll want to offer enough little prizes in between to continue making the loyalty program engaging for customers. For example, on Sephora, when customers meet the minimum purchase, they're giving points however they can also get free samples. The free samples acts as a little bonus for each purchase. As customers earn more points through purchases they can reach higher levels of VIB (Very Important Beauty Insider) where they can get even better perks such as free shipping or free makeovers. The loyalty program hooks customers into wanting to make more online purchases.
Quiz marketing is often done by top brands to gamify the personalization process. Retailers don't typically have enough data about new customers to personalize their products towards them. That's what makes quizzes so effective. Customers engage in a fun quiz before entering the online store so that the only products they're shown are in their size and based on their sense of style. Brands like Fabletics use this tactic with great success.
Contests can be a fun way to gamify the shopping experience. If there are challenges or steps the customer needs to complete in order to potentially win a prize, it can keep the customer engaged. Contests where customers could earn more points by entering each day are a great way to keep the contest and brand at top of mind.
Exit intent gamified apps are growing in popularity. Many brands are gamifying the shopping experience by requiring customers to fill in their email address to receive a discount. Be sure to set the discounts at a price your business can afford. If you offer too steep a discount that could eat away at your product margins affecting your business long-term. These apps work best for new stores struggling to get conversions on their store.
On store surveys and polls can be a fun and quick way to gamify your store. You can have a daily poll on your store where you ask your customers questions to better understand them. Your polls should focus on answering questions to curate better products for them. For example, 'Which neckline do you prefer?' or 'What's your favorite color dress?' Let them have access to see the results of the poll as most people would be curious to know where they stand.
Regardless of how you gamify the retail experience, you need to make sure you always do the following: make it easy, winnable and trackable. The easier it is for customers to complete the interactive activity the more likely they are to start and finish it. It needs to be winnable. If customers lose when they play, they may feel discouraged and shop elsewhere. Trackability is important too as it lets your customers see how much progress they've made and what they need to do to reach the next milestone.
Gamification Marketing Tools:
Spin A Sale is a spinner app that offers customers a discount when they show intent to exit your website. Your store visitor needs to add their email address in order to spin the wheel. Once they spin the wheel, the spinner will land on a discount code which the customer can use for their purchase. This gamification app can be used to increase conversions.
Points, VIP, Referral Programs requires customers to collect points in order to win perks. They can earn points through purchases, social media following, customer referrals, and more. In return, customers can redeem their points for discounts, freebies or gift cards. This loyalty program gamification app can help increase the number of repeat customers your store has.
WooHoo is an exciting email pop-up where customers can play to win a discount after entering their email address. Once you click the 'Start Game' button a random generator chooses what discount code your customers get. You can even add text such as 'Offer expires in 15 minutes' to create a sense of urgency.
Fyrebox Games and Quizzes is a gamification app where store owners can create quizzes, puzzles and a hangman game on their store. You can use the games as a way to build leads, learn more about your customers or entertain them. Quizzes can lead customers directly to a product page. You can modify colors, choose from 9 languages, and more.
Gamification Marketing Resource:
6 Examples of Retail Gamification to Boost Engagement and Sales by Shopify showcases the six examples of when retailers created a gamified experience for their customers. You'll learn how Victoria Secret's Pink app where customers can play games, enter contests, create looks with their product collection and more.


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Another day, Another Donna Hay
Issue 8. It's the one I'm having a love affair with at the moment. And yes, you guessed right, it's a Donna Hay Magazine- the autumn issue, number 8.
So far I have baked this, this and this from issue 8 and it's not stopping there. Somehow Miss Hay has managed to compile all of my favourite cold weather recipes into this one issue. There's a lot more where that came from and there's still a gaggle of recipes I have book marked and there's still a whole month of winter left. You still haven't seen all of issue 8.
And obviously you haven't seen the last of Donna Hay. If I could paint a picture of how I want my dream kitchen to look like, well it would look like a Donna Hay Magazine- clean and crisp, modern with a few vintage twists. I absolutely love her taste, and not to mention the eye candy in every issue, it's food porn at its grandest. And I actually hate calling it food porn, because it sounds rather vulgar, but unfortunately it is probably the most apt way of describing it.
Anyway, enough of the love struck fanatical prose about Miss Hay. I don't know how I went through the whole season of autumn without making anything using pears. Luckily I found these beautiful beurre bosc pears at Aboutlife, still at their peak. I usually start looking for pears as soon as autumn rolls in, however this season it seems as if my attention was directed elsewhere. So here I am to rectify this gross neglect.
Beurre Bosc pears are characterised by their unique rich yellow russeted skin, its creamy firm and juicy flesh, which makes it ideal for desserts, especially poaching. This tart starts off, with pears that are poached in a vanilla syrup and then arranged over pastry filled with almond frangipane.
The tart is decadent without being too much, if you know what I mean. The almond filling is spongy and light but provides that little bit of richness while the vanilla-soaked pears provides the sugar rush. It's a great combination of flavours and textures.
Making the tart is quite therapeutic too. Poaching the pears perfumes the air with a beautiful fragrance of vanilla and making the pastry, as in, massaging and rolling out the dough can be quite a soothing exercise. As long as you aren't making these tarts in a hurry, the whole process, although somewhat lengthy can be satisfying in the end. Especially when the reward at the end is biting into one of the tarts.
I never knew pastry making to be so relaxing; tart making for me usually ends in a big fluster where I am all wound up at the end, barely enjoying the finished result. I have never had much finesse with pastry, but this time because, I left the tarts rather unfinished-rustic, so to speak, I wasn't so hung up about them looking so pretty like I normally do. I never seem to make pretty tart cases anyway and I thought there was no reason to force it now. So the guise of these un-pretty tarts is, rustic. And that works for me. But if you are a pastry virtuoso, then by all means, pretty the tart up.
The tarts come out of the oven golden and aromatic. You can bake them slightly longer and brush the tops with the extra vanilla syrup to get more caramelised pears, or you can just leave them as is. I made both and preferred the more caramelised version, but really it's up to you. If you ever try these tarts, try to use beurre bosc pears, as they are perfect for this type of cooking.
Rustic Vanilla Pear and Almond Tarts
adapted from Donna Hay Magazine (Issue 8)
serves 6
145g unsalted butted, chilled an cubed
2 cups plain all-purpose flour
¼ cup caster sugar
2 tbsp ice water
3 cups water
1 cup sugar
1 vanilla bean, split in half (or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract)
¼ cup maple syrup
3 beurre bosc pears, halved and cored
75g unsalted butter
½ cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 cup almond meal
2 tbsp plain all-purpose flour
1½ tbsp Bailey's Irish Crème
Place the butter, flour and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
While the motor is running, add enough iced water to form a soft dough.
Shape into a ball and wrap in plastic.
Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Place the water, sugar, vanilla bean or extract and maple syrup in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat.
Stir until the sugar is dissolved, then simmer for 5 minutes.
Add the pears and simmer for 15 minutes or until tender.
Remove from the saucepan and allow to cool on a chopping board.
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Roll out pastry between two sheets of parchment paper to 3mm thick and line 6 tart tins.
Allow for some dough to overhang on the edges.
Line the pastry with baking paper and fill with pie weights.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, then remove the weights and paper and bake for another 10 minutes or until just light brown.
Remove pastry shells from the oven and set aside to cool.
Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy.
Beat in the egg and then fold in the almond meal, flour and Bailey's.
Spread the filling over the pastry making sure you cover the base completely.
Slice the poached pears and arrange them over the almond filling.
Bake the tart for 50 minutes.
(Alternatively you can brush the tarts with the left over syrup and bake them a little longer or until the pears are slightly caramelised.)
Serve at room temperature with a thick dollop of cream.


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Where do we draw the line as to culturally acceptable and unacceptable behavior?
My sister has been watching My Big Fat American Gypsy Wedding on Netflix. She was describing to me an American subculture that few of us even know about, let alone think about. As she described it, I felt as if she was describing an acid-colored version of a Regency romance set in early 19th century England.
According to my sister, the gypsies marry when they the girls are quite young (with the girls' age at the time of the wedding hovering around 15). Although social occasions such as dances are commonplace, girls and boys are never allowed to be together unchaperoned and it's entirely possible for a girl to reach the altar without even having kissed her future husband.
The girls must be virgins when they marry, even though my sister says that they dress exactly like hookers during the courting phase. The boys are expected to get sexual experience with non-gypsy girls.
This social structure considers housewifely virtues the highest calling for a girl, so they are taken out of school when they're still very young. They then settle down to a life of housekeeping and baby-making. Meanwhile, the men, who are also usually high school drop-outs make their living in itinerant trades. A profitable one is, apparently, selling paving services door to door. Working hard, they can make as much as $10,000 a week — which is a good thing because the gypsy culture is very image oriented. A wedding dress 6 feet across covered with crystals is commonplace.
As my sister was regaling me with this information, she said that she felt terribly sorry for the girls, because they had to cut short their education and are consigned to a life of domestic drudgery. I understood what she meant, but I said "That's their culture. They don't consider it a waste to be a somewhat educated homemaker."
And with those words, I crashed right into cultural relativism. If I think my culture is the best — with girls having the same academic and professional opportunities as men — why am I willing to let these American gypsy girls get herded into marital servitude? And if that's something I'm good with, why does it bug me when Muslim families swath their daughters in burqas? The first I greet with a resigned shrug; the second with a frisson of fear and distaste.
I was struggling to figure out where the lines exist for me, and came up with two principles. First, it depends if a moral absolute is concerned. When 19th century Indian wives were forced by culture to climb upon their husbands' funeral pyres, that was culturally sanctioned murder. Lord William Bentinck was correct to end it on his watch. A moral country cannot allow its female citizens to be murdered — something that makes honor killings beyond the pale too. Taking a girl out of school to get married may be a waste of a good mind or promising talent, but education is not a moral imperative; it's a cultural luxury.
Second, I'm more upset about differing cultures if I feel they pose a risk to me. Unlike the gypsies, who keep themselves to themselves, my feeling when I see a Muslim man with his burqa-clad wife or daughter is that he's eying me and my daughter as future burqa wearers. While mine may be a tolerant culture, his is a conquering one, and there's no doubt that he and his co-religionists think the world would be a better place if women and girls came neatly packaged in burlap.
Are there bright lines here that I'm missing or more nuanced arguments I could/should be making? Please let me know.


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text:
Interactive Puppet Prototype with Xbox Kinect from Theo Watson on Vimeo.
When Microsoft gobbled up vision technology and announced they were channeling their own research into a product for their game console, artists, researchers, and hackers lamented. It seemed the tech might be destined only for a handful of mainstream game titles. Hours after the product launch, however, and one open source bounty later, it was clear the opposite was happening: Kinect was opening to new possibilities. Some of the world's leading visual experimenters, many of them regulars in this site's stories, were quickly pulling in data and reimagining what the device could do. And that's just in the first days: given its sophistication, the real potential lies ahead.
I pulled together a number of the artist-hackers to get their thoughts:
Phil Torrone talks to us from Adafruit Industries, who put up the bounty for the project and contributed to the EFF to protect the rights of hackers
Theo Watson, OpenFrameworks co-originator, is one of the original hackers and has built Mac support
Memo Akten, OpenFrameworks contributor, is building expressive and artistic applications of the tech
Kyle McDonald, artist and visual researcher, is working with massive clouds of point data, building on his previous work in 3D scanning
Dan Shiffman, Processing guru and NYU faculty, is working on tools to make this more accessible to Processing and Java coders.
Adafruit on the Competition to Hack Kinect
Phil Torrone of Adafruit explains what went on behind the scenes as Adafruit Industries offered a bounty to hack Kinect.
CDM: What was important about this particular project?
Torrone: The results speak for themselves, the creative potential was unlocked.
When did you actually make the decision to commit to this?
The day before the kinect was launched in the usa.
Have you been surprised by anything that's happened? Was this the pace of progress you anticipated?
We never underestimate the creativity and passion of people who and do love open source.
You of course gave some cash to the EFF and not just the winner … have you had conversations with EFF about how to protect artists working on the project, or the legality of the work?
We did not talk with EFF at all prior to this effort; we did let them know we were sending them $2k after we declared a winner.
With so much going on, what's the best way for interested parties to keep track of what's going on?
Likely the Google Group
How can someone best contribute?
There's a google group, there's GitHub where we put our data dump and code.
Where should people go to learn more about this stuff?
Shiffman: In terms of doing Kinect with Processing, I think learning the basics of Processing first (duh), with a focus on image processing is probably good:
Watson: There is an openFrameworks wrapper being developed:
ofxKinect @ GitHub
…and active forum threads:
libfreenect discussion @ GitHub
openFrameworks forums
Also the main libfreenect development is happening on GitHub:
There is a big cleanup coming to the api so things might be in a bit of a state of flux for the next few days but hopefully soon we will have super solid drivers/apis for all platforms.
Akten: I'll be posting my little demos (whenever I find a moment, which will be rare for the next few months unfortunately :S) at
https://github.com/memo/ofxKinect-demos and of course my blog memo.tv
You've probably seen the post on CAN [creative applications], has a good summary of the early demos and the history of how the opensource drivers came about (Hector etc.)
And I saw a tweet that someone had it working with Cinder.
McDonald: For my work in general, see http://kylemcdonald.net/
For my pre-Kinect 3d scanning work, see:
With Kinect, everything I've done with 3d scanning for the last two years is starting to take on a new meaning…
The best place for following Kinect stuff is:
1 openkinect google group
2 #openkinect on freenode (super active discussion)
3 the github wiki
Why hack the Kinect in the first place?
McDonald: It's essential that we develop drivers and libraries for Kinect, because we have to decide what new technology means to us.
Kinect has taken a technology out of academic labs and defense agencies, and put it in our living room. now we need to decide where we want to point the camera.
Shiffman: A cheap (relatively speaking) "3D" camera is killer technology for the interaction design / computational art community. This kind of tech has been around, but it's either been too hard to find or prohibitively expensive. I think that you will see a ton of creative uses (in digital art, exhibition design, assistive tech, etc.) that you wouldn't find if it was only used for console gaming.
Watson: It's a really amazing piece of hardware for a really affordable price. To put it in perspective, I currently have a commercial-depth camera on loan which produces a similar quality depth image and it retails for $7000! That is really way out of reach for most people who might be hobbyists, artists or researchers, but $150 is incredibly cheap for what the technology allows you to do.
Akten: First, check out Kyle's little poem 🙂
For me, it's very simple. I like to make things that know what you are doing, or understand what you are wanting to do, and act accordingly. There are many ways of implementing these ideas. You can strap accelerometers to your arms and wave them around, and have the accelerometer values drive sound or visuals. You can place various sensors in the environment, you can use camera(s) to track movement etc. Ultimately, you create an environment that 'knows' what is happening inside it, and responds as you designed and developed it to. What excites me is not the technology, but how you interpret that environment data, and make decisions as a result of it. How intuitive is the interface? You can randomly wire the environmental parameters (e.g. orientation of arm), to random parameters (e.g in audio and/or visuals), and it will be fun for a while, but I don't think it will have longevity, it won't be an *instrument* that you can ultimately learn to play and naturally express yourself with. In order to create an instrument, you first need to establish a language of interaction – which is the fun side of interaction design, but you always have the technical challenge of making sure you can create a system which can understand that language. It's too common to design an interaction, but not have the technical capabilities to detect or implement it – then you have a system which reports incorrectly, and makes inaccurate assumptions resulting in confusing, non-intuitive interaction. So you need a smarter system, and the more data you have about the environment, the better you can understand it, and the smarter, more informed decisions you can make. You don't *need* to use all the data all the time, but it is there if you need it.
Kinect is ultimately a depth-sensing camera. To put it simply, it returns a normal RGB image just like a webcam, but for every pixel in the image, it also returns a 'distance to camera'. This kind of tech has been around for a while, but very expensive (minimum thousands of dollars), and definitely not a consumer device, more for labs, robotics, military etc. That depth information, is a ton of extra data. With that extra data, we are a lot more knowledgable about what is happening in our environment, we can understand it more accurately, thus we can create smarter systems that respond more intuitively.
One point which is often overlooked – which is a very important point – is not only 'what can you do with the Kinect that you couldn't before', but 'how much simpler is it technically to do something with the Kinect, as opposed to using other consumer devices'. This really is a very important point. A simple example is the recent rough demo I posted of drawing in 3D with your hands.
ofxKinect 3D draw 001 from Memo Akten on Vimeo.
That is completely possible to do pre-Kinect. You would need two webcams, you would need to setup your lighting quite specifically. You would want control over your background and overall lighting of the space. And then you would need a lot of hairy maths and code. With the kinect, you just plug it in, make sure there isn't any bright sunlight around, and with a few lines of code you have the information you need. So now that interaction is available for developer / artists of *all* levels, not just hardcore math geeks – and that is very important. Once you have loads of people playing with these kinds of interactions (who pre-Kinect would not have been able to) then we are bound to see loads of really innovative, fresh applications for it. Sure we'll get a ton of "pinch to zoom and rotate the photo" demos which will get sickening after a few thousand, but people will be developing ideas that you or I would never have thought off, but instantly love – which in turn will spark new ideas in us to go off and play with – which in turn will feed others.
It's still really early days yet, it's just been a case of getting the data off the Kinect into the computer, and then seeing what actually is that data, how reliable is it, how is it's performance, what can we do with it. Once this gets out to the masses, that's when the fun will start pouring in 🙂
What might people do with these tools as artists?
Watson: There is quite a lot that it can be used for. For interactive installations, we are often dealing with trying to track people in a space. Typically this requires careful lighting and IR cameras and it can be quite a tricky issue, but with the Kinect the depth image allows us not only to track people but understand where they are in relation to each our in z-space. This is just one application however, another really nice feature is that it has pixel matched color and depth cameras and this could allow for a 'greenscreen-less' live greenscreening. And then of course there is its use as a 3D scanner, for building depth maps, understanding the space around us etc and more possibilities than I probably realise.
Shiffman: All sorts of things I can't possibly imagine! (Just the fact that having depth makes background removal so easy is killer for my students.)
McDonald: I've noticed tendencies to work at very different levels of abstraction.
Some people are most interested in the raw data, the inherent glitches, the aesthetic of 3d scanning.
Others are interested in slightly generalized data, maybe the idea of 'scenes' that are being captured and analyzed, reconstructed.
Some people are interested in specific applications — object recognition, pose estimation, gestures. these are the most abstracted.
I expect work to come from all different levels, in every different medium.
Sculptors will record and build unusual models of spaces informed by 3d scanning, spatial mash-ups will be standard fare, 3d printing for 3d slit scanning. motion spaces, negative spaces. paths through space over time.
Sound artists and musicians will use the device to control standard audio parameters, or use the values as input parameters to complex synthesis environments and for controlling spatialized sound with large speaker arrays.
Photographers will work with long exposures in combination with 3d-reactive projection to augment layers of the space over time.
Interaction designers will invent new gestures and modes of interaction specifically targeted at the strengths of the sensor.
Interactive art will experience a minor renaissance as a variety of tasks that were previously very difficult become very simple (e.g., tracking someone against a background that is the same color, or even tracking someone against a moving background)
… etc., etc. 🙂
XBox Kinect running on OS X ( with source code ) from Theo Watson on Vimeo.
What's technically possible with the libraries now; what's coming?
Watson: At the moment, we can get back the depth image and color image from the two cameras, access the motor, LED and the accelerometer of the device. Some developers are now working on accessing the four microphones which allows for location of sounds in 3D space. Also, a big part of the Kinect as it relates to the Xbox is the full body skeletal tracking, which from a researcher or artist's perspective is very valuable feature. This is implemented in software on the Xbox and is the result of many years work by some of the top people in the field. A big part of the future research will be at the software level developing tools that build of off and extend the functionality of the hardware, like open source implementations of the realtime skeletonization code.
McDonald: The general rundown is that Linux is fastest, OS X is 5-10 fps behind,
and Windows is just starting to work.
ofxKinect was originally developed by Dan Wilcox and Theo Watson, with some minor contributions from me, and is now also being developed by Arturo Castro. It runs well on OS X and Arturo is still adding Linux support.
Right now it's only possible to get the RGB and depth images, and to get the depth image in centimeters (which is not what the sensor returns by default). Next will be alignment of the RGB and depth images, and of course making it cross platform. Other suggestions are on the OF forum.
Shiffman: Right now the library just returns two pixel arrays (640×480 RGB image and 640×480 image with depth mapped to grayscale). My to-do list is (a) make all the raw data available, (b) optimize for speed, and (c) add any little analysis tricks / features that might be particularly useful. Basically, anything people do with the openkinect project and OF, I'll try to add as a feature for Java / Processing.
Stay tuned to CDMotion for more… and let us know if you have specific comments or questions, or have seen work that inpires you. Ed.
More reading…
Fantastic round-up of what's happened so far from our friend Creative Applications Network:
Kinect – OpenSource
Memo reflects on his blog…
Kinect – why it matters
And on Music, I've got more for anyone interested in MIDI or C#/.net:
Kinect with MIDI


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A stubborn and towering wildfire jumped firefighters' perimeter lines in the hills overlooking Colorado Springs, forcing frantic mandatory evacuation notices for more than 32,000 residents, including the U.S. Air Force Academy, and destroying an unknown number of homes.
Heavy smoke and ash billowed from the mountain foothills west of the city. Bright yellow and orange flames flared in the night, often signaling another home lost to the Waldo Canyon Fire, the No. 1 priority for the nation's firefighters.
Interstate 25, which runs through Colorado Springs, was briefly closed to southbound traffic Tuesday.
"It was like looking at the worst movie set you could imagine," Gov. John Hickenlooper said after flying over the 9-square-mile fire late Tuesday. "It's almost surreal. You look at that, and it's like nothing I've seen before."
With flames cresting a ridge high above its scenic, 28-square-mile campus, the Air Force Academy told more than 2,100 residents to evacuate 600 households.
A curtain of flame and smoke hung above the academy's Falcon Stadium; billowing gray clouds formed a backdrop to its aluminum, glass and steel Cadet Chapel, an icon of the academy. Elsewhere, police officers directing traffic and fleeing residents covered their faces with T-shirts and bandanas to breathe through the smoke.
"People are freaking out," Kathleen Tillman told The Denver Post. "You are driving through smoke. It is completely pitch black, and there is tons of ash dropping on the road."
Colorado Springs Fire Chief Richard Brown said "many, many homes" were saved by firefighters.
"This is a firestorm of epic proportions," Brown told The Post.
And Hickenlooper, who spoke Tuesday with Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, told anxious residents that "We have all the support of the U.S. government. We have all the support of the state of Colorado. And we want everybody here to know that."
Throughout the interior West, firefighters have toiled for days in searing, record-setting heat against fires fueled by prolonged drought. Most, if not all, of Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana were under red flag warnings, meaning extreme fire danger.
The forecast for the Waldo Canyon fire called for cooler, calmer weather Wednesday, with a high of 86 and gusts of up to 10 mph.
In central Utah, authorities found one woman dead Tuesday when they returned to an evacuated area, marking the first casualty in a blaze that consumed at least two dozen homes. Sanpete County sheriff's officials said they hadn't identified the victim, whose remains were found during a damage assessment of the 60-square-mile Wood Hollow Fire near Indianola.
The nation is experiencing "a super-heated spike on top of a decades-long warming trend," said Derek Arndt, head of climate monitoring at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.
The Waldo Canyon fire, which started Saturday, was 5% contained before 65-mph wind gusts sent it surging toward Colorado Springs as it covered 10 square miles. The cause was under investigation.
To the north in Boulder County, officials evacuated 26 households when a wildfire erupted Tuesday afternoon following a lightning storm. No structures were immediately threatened, but the National Center for Atmospheric Research, perched on a hilltop in front of Boulder's famous Flatirons foothills, closed as a precaution.
And in northern Colorado, the 136-square-mile High Park Fire has destroyed 257 homes, authorities said. That fire was triggered by lightning June 9.
Hickenlooper insisted Colorado was open to tourism, saying Colorado's fires had affected just about a half-percent of all of the state's public lands and perhaps 400 of its 10,000 campground sites.
In Utah, officials said the Wood Hollow Fire was 15% contained. High winds forced authorities to shut down part of U.S. 89 near Indianola, and evacuations were called for Fairview, a town of about 1,100 residents.
Elsewhere in the West:
— A fire that charred nearly 70 square miles west of Ruidoso, N.M., was 90% contained, with many residents allowed to return home.
— A wildfire north of Helena, Mont., destroyed four homes and forced additional evacuations. Gov. Brian Schweitzer issued a state of emergency for four counties.
— A wildfire in the Bridger-Teton National Forest grew from about 300 acres to 2,000 acres Tuesday, marking the first major wildfire of the season in western Wyoming.


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CLEVELAND -- With yet another four-game sweep, the Indians matched a feat last accomplished by the 1961 New York Yankees. [url=h
CLEVELAND -- With yet another four-game sweep, the Indians matched a feat last accomplished by the 1961 New York Yankees. [url=h
in Müll 04.04.2018 08:41von jokergreen0220 (gelöscht)
CLEVELAND -- With yet another four-game sweep, the Indians matched a feat last accomplished by the 1961 New York Yankees. Rhett Ellison Jersey . Now, theyd like to repeat something else those Bronx Bombers did in October. Michael Brantley and Michael Bourn had two RBIs apiece as Cleveland, clinging tightly to one of the ALs two wild-card spots with a week left, became the first team in 52 years to post six sweeps of a four-game series in a season with a 9-2 win Sunday over the Houston Astros. According to STATS, the Indians are the first team since the 61 Yankees, a team featuring Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, to sweep six four-games series. The Yankees went on to win the World Series that season. "Weve got a week to go and were in a fun spot," Indians manager Terry Francona said. "We have to keep winning." Brantley hit a two-out RBI single in the fourth inning off Erik Bedard (4-12) and Bourn tripled in a four-run sixth as the Indians moved 1 1-2 games ahead of Texas in the ALs wild-card scramble. The Rangers lost 4-0 at Kansas City on a walk-off grand slam in the 10th inning. Carlos Santana homered for the Indians, just a half-game behind Tampa Bay for first place in the wild-card standings. With six games to go, Cleveland controls its own destiny. As long as they win, the Indians have no worries. And with upcoming games against the Chicago White Sox and Minnesota Twins -- the two bottom teams in the AL Central -- things couldnt be lined up any better. In a season of twists and turns, theres suddenly a straight path to the post-season. "It has been one of those crazy years, a roller-coaster," said first baseman Nick Swisher. "Weve had some great winning streaks and some great losing streaks. Weve had everything, but I think thats just a testament to us pulling together and staying tight." Corey Kluber (10-5) dodged trouble throughout 5 1-3 innings and the Indians improved to 50-18 against teams with losing records. Cleveland may not have an abundance of All-Stars or household names, but rather a collection of players pulling together. And in Octobers chilly and electrified air, thats the kind of team that can win it all. "When were clicking on all cylinders, were hard to deal with," Bourn said. "We just keep fighting. We have a lot of ways to beat you. We can win with our pitching and we can win with our offence, too. We always know that and we always try to have each others backs." Chris Carter homered for the Astros, who lost their ninth straight and fell to 51-105 overall. In its inaugural AL campaign, Houston is two losses from matching the club record set last season. "Well fight to the very end," first-year Astros manager Bo Porter said. "The number of losses, whether its consecutive losses, thats not going to prevent this group or us as a staff from coming in here every day and putting up our best fight." Leading 3-2, the Indians broke it open in the sixth, highlighted by Bourns standup triple off reliever Philip Humber. Bedard, who has lost nine of his last 10 decisions, gave up a leadoff single and hit a batter before Brantley chased the left-hander with an RBI single to make 4-2. After Aviles sacrificed, Bourn brought in two more runs with his shot into the right-field corner. Swisher followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 7-2, giving the Indians their first comfortable cushion in four days against a Houston team that fought hard but made far too many mistakes. Poor attendance has been an issue all year for the Indians, but a crowd of 26,168 -- their largest for any Sunday home game this season -- turned out to push them toward October. "The atmosphere at the ballpark the last couple nights has been great," Francona said. "It should be. This is a fun team to watch." With just one week left, every game is vital for the Indians, who havent made the post-season since 2007. They needed to sweep the Astros and did so, but it wasnt easy. At this point in the season, nothing is. Cleveland would seem to have the easiest path to the playoffs among the current wild-card leaders. The Indians have two home games against Chicago, a team theyve beaten 15 of 17 times, and end the season with four at Minnesota. Texas will host Houston three times and end with a four-game set at home against the Los Angeles Angels. Tampa Bay will finish a wraparound series Monday with Baltimore and then go on the road for three games at Yankee Stadium and three in Toronto. NOTES: Indians RHP Justin Masterson, out since Sept. 2 with a strained oblique muscle, threw a simulated game after the series finale. The team is being cautious with Masterson, but theres a chance he could pitch in relief later this week or start in the post-season if the Indians qualify. ... Plate umpire CB Bucknor took a foul tip off his right shoulder in the eighth, but stayed in the game. ... The Indians are 16 games over .500 for the first time since 07, when they made it to the ALCS and lost to Franconas Red Sox. ... The Astros have scored just 14 runs during their nine-game slide. Justin Pugh Jersey . They know how difficult it is to beat the San Antonio Spurs. George scored 28 points and Indiana defeated San Antonio 111-100 on Saturday night, snapping an 11-game skid against the Spurs. Custom New York Giants Jerseys . Matt Carkner got back into the Ottawa lineup, and made his presence felt right away by settling his clubs score in a one-sided fight with Rangers forward Brian Boyle. http://www.nygiantsfanaticshop.com/Black-Damon-Harrison-Giants-Jersey.html?cat=875 . - Chris Davis hit a two-run double, scoring Nelson Cruz in his Orioles debut in Baltimores 9-7 win over to the Toronto Blue Jays on Saturday.LIVERPOOL, England - England left back Leighton Baines has signed a new four-year contract with Everton, ending Manchester Uniteds hopes of luring the defender to Old Trafford. The 29-year-old Baines has established himself as one of the top attacking full backs in the country and was the subject of two bids from United during the last off-season. Everton manager Roberto Martinez says that keeping Baines at the club is a "massive boost and exciting for the future" because he brings "maturity and football knowledge in a very specialized position on the pitch" and an "infectious and positive influence to the rest of the squad. Phil Simms Jersey. " Baines, who joined Everton from Wigan in 2007, is battling with Ashley Cole to be Englands starting left back at the World Cup in Brazil. China Jerseys Wholesale China NFL Jerseys Jerseys NFL Cheap China Jerseys Wholesale Cheap NFL Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Jerseys 2019 Discount NFL Jerseys ' ' '
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I am delighted to be here at the Peterson Institute for International Economics to present my views on international financial instability before such a distinguished audience of eminent scholars and officials, among which I am fortunate to count many old friends.
This is my first visit to the Institute since I was invited to join its Advisory Committee and I would like to express my gratitude to Fred Bergsten for the invitation. I am honored to participate in this important body of the Institute and I look forward to contributing to its activity in the promotion of policy-oriented research in the field of international economics.
Instability in the age of globalization
International financial instability is a subject that has fascinated and intrigued me since I was a young economist at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and witnessed with considerable anxiety the collapse of the Bretton Woods system on August 15, 1971. The ensuing decade of instability was mostly attributable to the shock of the downward floating of the dollar and the resulting two oil shocks of 1974 and 1979. After some unsuccessful attempts to rebuild Bretton Woods, the negotiations for the reform of the international monetary system ended in 1976 with the legalization of freely floating exchange rates and that seemed sufficient to fix the problem. A tired US Treasury Secretary, William Simon, commented: "All is well that ends."
At the beginning of the 1980s, following the process of liberalization, deregulation, and privatization set in motion by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan, it was widely expected that floating exchange rates and full international capital mobility would ensure adjustment of balance of payments disequilibria and a stable financial environment. Instead, these new conditions paved the way for the emergence of a global financial system in which financial innovation and the information and communications technology (ICT) revolution combined to produce an extraordinary expansion of financial sectors and markets compared with the real sector in both industrialized and emerging countries. The seeds of global financial instability were thus planted on fertile soil. Indeed, since the 1980s episodes of financial instability have occurred with increased frequency and intensity and have entailed major international repercussions.
I will not review here the long list of debt crises, currency misalignments, illiquidity in credit markets, and asset price bubbles that have characterized the age of globalization, a subject to which I have devoted considerable attention in the last few years.1 I would rather quote from a paper written by Michael Bordo, Barry Eichengreen, and others in 2001 on "the crisis problem":
"Since 1973 crisis frequency has been double that of the Bretton Woods and classical gold standard periods and matched only by the crisis-ridden 1920s and 1930s. History thus confirms that there is something different and disturbing about our age."2
So, given that the situation has not improved since 2001, what is different and disturbing about our age? Here are some features that I regard as crucial.
What is different
- The world economy operates under a "market-led international monetary system" in which market forces determine exchange rates and the international allocation of capital. This is the key point of a paper Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa and I wrote for a conference organized by Fred Bergsten and Peter Kenen at this Institute to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Bretton Woods System in 1994.3 In the paper we underlined the risk that the increased globalization of financial markets could lead to "disturbances that may have an impact on the stability of the financial system."
- Global financial intermediaries operate in a highly competitive environment but with essentially uniform credit allocation strategies, risk management models, and reaction functions to macroeconomic developments and credit events.
- Financial innovation (mainly though securitization and derivatives) has greatly enhanced the ability of global players to manage market and credit risks.
What is disturbing
- There is no stability-oriented anchor for the macroeconomic policies pursued by systemically relevant countries.
- The risks of unsustainable trends in asset prices (equity, real estate, bonds, foreign exchange) are not adequately managed by monetary policies targeted exclusively to consumer price inflation.
- The procyclicality of the financial system has been enhanced by factors leading to excessive credit creation followed by sharp credit contraction (underpricing of risk, overestimation of market liquidity, uniformity of financial strategies and of risk management models, information asymmetries, and herd behavior).
- Perverse incentives and loopholes in the regulatory system have made it possible for financial innovation to transfer credit risks to unregulated entities.
- Widespread conflict of interest between originators of financial products, credit rating agencies, and law firms has facilitated the dissemination of highly complex, risky, and opaque instruments among investors with inadequate risk management culture.
The response to financial instability
The response of the international community to the episodes of instability that have affected the world's monetary and financial system since the 1980s has been on the whole conducted on a case-by-case basis, with an emphasis on "domestic" factors and circumstances, rather than on "systemic" determinants.
This has reflected the prevailing conventional wisdom according to which crises are inevitable as they are mostly the result of immutable human factors like greed and gullibility. Crises are also seen as part of a physiological process whereby "unfit" market participants are eliminated and the "fittest" survive and become stronger. In this context, market excesses are tolerated in the conviction that they will self-correct in a relatively short time.
From a policy point of view, the conventional wisdom recommended the so-called "house-in order-approach." This assumes that all imbalances have a domestic origin and that, if all countries adopted appropriate policies at home, there would be no systemic problems to cope with and therefore no need for an internationally coordinated response. Obviously, domestic factors do play a role in triggering crisis situations, but they are often amplified and propagated by the operation of global financial markets. Thus a balanced response to crises should ideally address both types of factors.
In reality, the policy response has been generally biased towards adjusting the domestic causes of imbalances, such as in the case of IMF financial support packages to emerging countries during the 1990s. Actions targeted to tackle systemic problems have been sporadic or partial in scope. Occasional interventions to correct exchange rate misalignments of major currencies have been conducted by G-7 countries but have been mostly of an "oral" kind in recent years, despite some evidence of success in arresting unsustainable or unwarranted trends, such as the appreciation of the dollar in the mid-1980s, the appreciation of the yen in 1995, or the depreciation of the euro in 2000.
Also the much-hyped "reform of the international financial architecture" (IFA), launched by the G-7 countries after the Asian-Russian crisis of the 1990s, turned out to be focused essentially on the need to strengthen financial systems in emerging market countries, mostly through the adoption of a series of standards and codes of good conduct. The plan drew severe criticism from a high level Task Force, set up by the Council on Foreign Relations and led by Morris Goldstein,4 for not addressing more fundamental issues, like the moral hazard implied by IMF sponsored bailouts or the overlapping of roles of the IMF and the World Bank in crisis management and resolution. A minority of that Task Force, including Fred Bergsten and Paul Volcker, criticized the plan for ignoring the question of reforming the world's exchange rate regime, an omission that they equated to "watching Hamlet without the Prince of Denmark."
In the end the IFA reform obliged the IMF to invest a large amount of resources in a Financial Sector Assessment Program (FSAP), which produced reports, highly valuable but not widely read, on almost all its member countries but with the significant omission of the United States and China. Another main objective of the reform, that of closing loopholes in the financial regulatory regime, again forced the IMF to concentrate mostly on the activity of offshore financial centers based on exotic islands rather than on hedge funds and other unregulated financial market participants of greater systemic relevance.
Edwin M. (Ted) Truman, in the proceedings of a conference on IMF reform5 he chaired in 2005 at this Institute, noted that financial sector supervision had led to "a mission creep" in the IMF, diverting resources from its key institutional task of conducting surveillance on macroeconomic and exchange rate policies of member countries. This led Truman to conclude that "the IMF is in eclipse as the preeminent institution of international financial cooperation. Consequently, the world is worse off."
To have permitted this "eclipse" is probably the most crucial flaw in the response of the international community to the challenges of globalization. It led to the perception by the markets and the public opinion in general, that widening global payments imbalances, exchange rate misalignments, fast growing monetary and credit aggregates, exceptionally low risk premia, were not seen as posing a threat to global financial stability. This perception was reinforced by the recent decision taken by the IMF shareholders to "downsize" the institution because its lending activity to members had shrunk to almost nil in the high tide of international liquidity, as if it had nothing else to do. In this context, the accusation, voiced by a senior US Treasury official at the same Institute conference I mentioned a moment ago,6 that the IMF had been "asle ep at the wheel of its most fundamental responsibility-exchange rate surveillance" did not help the standing of the Fund as a multilateral institution. However, this unexpected "wake up call" turned out to be less motivated by global stability considerations than by more prosaic concerns about the widening bilateral trade gap of the United States with China, entirely attributed to the undervaluation of the renminbi.
The international community thus went on to confront the worst economic and financial crisis since the 1930s with unjustified complacency, ill-preparedness, and its key institution weakened by internal policy disagreements.
The response to the current crisis
In reviewing the response to the current crisis, I will not address the unprecedented array of immediate crisis management measures undertaken by central banks and national governments in the major countries to underpin banking and financial systems and to support economic activity. I will rather concentrate on the longer-term work being undertaken in the IMF context, in the G-20, and in the Financial Stability Forum (FSF) to reform the international monetary and financial system in order to make it less crisis-prone than the present one and more resilient to shocks. On this more systemic issue, a lively debate has developed involving politicians, academic economists, and financial analysts. A recurrent theme in the debate is the call for a "new Bretton Woods" and the recent meeting of the heads of state and government of the G-20 here in Washington in November was seen by many observers as the starting point of a process that could lead to a fundamental reform of the world's monetary and financial system.7
If by a "new Bretton Woods" one means a system built upon the foundations of the "old" one, it may be appropriate to recall how this was shaped. In essence, the Bretton Woods system was based on three main pillars: (i) a stability-oriented anchor for macroeconomic policies, operating through the par-value regime for member currencies in terms of gold and the US dollar; (ii) an obligation to maintain freedom from restrictions for trade and other current international transactions; and (iii) the possibility of introducing restrictions on capital movements for restoring equilibrium in the balance of payments. Obviously, in any reform project, these pillars would have to be adapted to the new reality of financial globalization. Leaving aside for a moment the "anchor" question of the first pillar, it must be noted that in the G-20 Summit Declaration of November 15, 2008, one can find encouraging language on the issues covered by the two other pillars.
As regards free trade, paragraph 13 of the G-20 Declaration has strong words on the "importance of rejecting protectionism" and a firm commitment both to "refrain from raising new barriers to investment or to trade in goods and services" and to strive for "a successful conclusion of the WTO's Doha Development Agenda with an ambitious and balanced outcome." This is a rather nonritual language and it sounds convincing.
As regards financial regulation, paragraph 9 of the G-20 Declaration broadly outlines an approach that rules out any form of old-time restrictions that would impede or distort the operation of financial markets. This is good, and it should allay the fears of a return to the past. However there is a strong commitment "to ensure that all financial markets, products, and participants are regulated or subject to oversight as appropriate to their circumstances." The G-20 further outlined the need to strengthen transparency and accountability, to promote integrity in financial markets, and to reinforce international cooperation in the regulatory field, broadly endorsing the program and the division of labor agreed upon by the Managing Director of the IMF and the Chairman of the FSF.
The FSF, in the words of Chairman Draghi, is working to ensure that financial systems would have more capital, less leverage, and would be subject to more effective regulation. This would imply, inter alia, reducing the procyclicality of the regulatory framework and its reliance on "self-regulation" by market participants, which paves the way to "regulatory capture."
This is a welcome change from the attitude that allowed in the past a growing proportion of markets, products, and participants to go unregulated on the grounds that "they have no systemic impact." This is the attitude that brought to us the "shadow banking system" made up of unregulated structured investment vehicles (SIVs) and conduits, distributing opaque structured products containing subprimes and other risky assets with the active marketing of unregulated rating agencies.
Obviously, the systemic impact of these commitments will depend on the actual outcome of the negotiations underway in the relevant trade and regulatory bodies.
Turning, finally, to the anchor question I must say at the outset that this is an area where little progress has been made so far in official fora. The G-20 Declaration mentions the need to reform international financial institutions but mostly to reflect more adequately "changing economic weights in the world economy in order to increase their legitimacy and effectiveness." How can we be sure that these reforms will ensure that a global crisis such as the present one will not happen again? Procyclicality is an inherent feature of all financial systems, and it is likely that reform efforts would not achieve their objectives in the absence of effective supra-national mechanisms to promote stability-oriented macroeconomic policies at the national level, especially by systemically important countries. Unfortunately, the G-20 declaration has placed insufficient emphasis on measures against the perpetuation of policies that led to unsustainable imbalances at the global level in the recent past.
These are difficult problems, but the time has now come, perhaps, to have a fresh look at what the possible technical solutions are. I do not think that the "old Bretton Woods" can offer a viable arrangement for the 21st century: Fixed exchange rates are gone. And yet one must admit that freely floating exchange rates have not really helped the adjustment of global imbalances. Perhaps this is because currencies have now become financial assets that are traded for profit motives with little or no relation to the balance of payments of the issuing country: The exchange rate has thus become more part of the problem than of the solution.
From this point of view it would appear more logical to look again at anchors based on a system of target zones for key currencies or to a substitution account that would replace national reserve currencies with the Special Drawing Right (SDR), which I presume is still alive somewhere. But although logical, a revival of these proposals seems hardly promising for reasons that are perhaps more ideological than practical but that are still strongly held.
Realistically, the only anchor that one can think of today is an institutional anchor, i.e. an anchor based on institutions endowed with effective multilateral surveillance powers. This, again, is easier said than done. Willem Buiter, with his typical bluntness recently wrote: "Don't waste time on multilateral surveillance. The IMF will never have any influence on large member states with strong government budgetary positions and strong external positions."8 This is a valid point and indeed so far IMF surveillance has not been very effective despite various attempts to strengthen it. Yet, in my view, a further effort by the international community in this direction is needed.
As I argue in my book, Managing International Financial Stability: National Tamers versus Global Tigers, the IMF, drawing also from the expertise of the FSF and other relevant international institutions and standard-setting bodies, must be allowed to express its views on what it regards as unsustainable trends in payment imbalances, credit flows, asset prices, exchange rates, and to formulate specific policy advice to the relevant member countries to promote monetary and financial stability. If no corrective policy actions are undertaken, the IMF should make its views known to the public opinion. It is possible that this may create a certain volatility in financial markets, but it will also strengthen the market perception of a two-way risk, thus contributing to brake unidirectional unsustainable market trends that inevitably lead to credit booms (and busts), bubbles, and misalignments.
In the end, I think that the gravity of the present crisis requires a strong determination to correct the flaws and the inadequacies of the present market-led international monetary and financial system. In embarking in this difficult effort, the international community should follow the good suggestions of Barry Eichengreen and Richard Baldwin in the introduction to the book I have already quoted:
- Strengthen existing institutions.
- Start thinking outside the box.
- Do no harm.
1. See F. Saccomanni (2008), Managing International Financial Instability. National Tamers versus Global Tigers, Cheltenham, UK and Northampton, MA: Edward Elgar.
2. See M. Bordo, B. Eichengreen, D. Klingebiel, and M.S. Martinez-Peria (2001), "Is the Crisis Problem Growing more Severe," Economic Policy, April, pp. 53-82.
3. See T. Padoa-Schioppa and F. Saccomanni (1994), "Managing a market-led global financial system" in Managing the World Economy. Fifty Years After Bretton Woods, ed. P. B. Kenen,Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, pp. 235-68.
4. See M. Goldstein, ed. (1999), "Safeguarding Prosperity in a Global Financial System" in The Future International Financial Architecture (Goldstein Report), Washington DC: Institute for International Economics.
5. See E. M. Truman, ed. (2006), Reforming the IMF for the 21st Century, Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics.
6. T. D. Adams (2006), "The IMF: Back to Basics" in Reforming the IMF for the 21st Century, ed. E. M. Truman, Washington, DC: Institute for International Economics, pp. 133-38.
7. See, for example, B. Eichengreen and R. Baldwin, eds. (2008), What G20 Leaders Must Do to Stabilise our Economy and Fix the Financial System, London: Centre for Economic Policy Research, a VoxEU.org publication.
8. See W. Buiter (2008), "Some Suggestions for the G20 on November 15" in What G20 Leaders Must Do to Stabilise our Economy and Fix the Financial System, eds. B. Eichengreen and R. Baldwin, London: Centre for Economic Policy Research (VoxEU.org publication), pp. 17-20.


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By Sarah Palin
Mr. President, should they or should they not build a mosque steps away from where radical Islamists killed 3000 people? Please tell us your position. We all know that they have the right to do it, but should they? And, no, this is not above your pay grade. If those who wish to build this Ground Zero mosque are sincerely interested in encouraging positive "cross-cultural engagement" and dialogue to show a moderate and tolerant face of Islam, then why haven't they recognized that the decision to build a mosque at this particular location is doing just the opposite? Mr. President, why aren't you encouraging the mosque developers to accept Governor Paterson's generous offer of assistance in finding a new location for the mosque on state land if they move it away from Ground Zero? Why haven't they jumped at this offer? Why are they apparently so set on building a mosque steps from what you have described, in agreement with me, as "hallowed ground"? I believe these are legitimate questions to ask.